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Odd computer behaviour

I forget which one it was but one of the computers discussed in this thread was to be delivered by post. I was a bit suspicious about that I mean computers are a bit fragile no?

It might have been the eBay one, which going back and looking out again it actually seems quite a promising spec.
 
weltweit said:
I forget which one it was but one of the computers discussed in this thread was to be delivered by post. I was a bit suspicious about that I mean computers are a bit fragile no?

It might have been the eBay one, which going back and looking out again it actually seems quite a promising spec.
Click to expand...

I must have bought two or three PC's and three laptops (all refurbished) that have been sent as parcels by one carrier or another over the last 20 or so years - all have survived the journey.
 
having said that, if you're in the south london patch, these people are based in croydon (near croydon airport) and have been around some time (i'm sure one of my refurbished computers came from them and while i can't offer any guarantees, i didn't have any issues with it) - they used to offer collection from their place as an option (i did think about doing that one time, and combining it with a visit to mum-tat, but didn't).

a quick look doesn't show it, but may be worth a phone call or e-mail to see if they still do, if that would work for you.
 
weltweit said:
Was it this one?

www.ebay.co.uk

HP 290 G1 PC SFF Intel Core i5-8500 16GB RAM 256GB NVMe + 1TB HDD W11P -Ref | eBay

16GB DDR4 2666Mhz RAM. The following is our current grading system (Subject to change) Grade B- (signs of use scratches/marks, quality will vary per unit see pictures for further detail). Grading Explained.
www.ebay.co.uk
Click to expand...
UnderOpenSky I think you recommended this one and looking back it is a spec that I'm interested in. Do you think I would still need a VGA to something adaptor for my screen?

Also I have never bought from eBay before is there anything I should know about?

I figure if I buy this I will have to buy a mouse and keyboard but the price leaves me able to spend money on a Nas for example.
 
weltweit said:
UnderOpenSky I think you recommended this one and looking back it is a spec that I'm interested in. Do you think I would still need a VGA to something adaptor for my screen?

Also I have never bought from eBay before is there anything I should know about?

I figure if I buy this I will have to buy a mouse and keyboard but the price leaves me able to spend money on a Nas for example.
Click to expand...

There's a VGA port so you won't need an adapter. On eBay I'd check that the person has sold plenty and has decent feedback (they have) and that there's nothing odd in the description that doesn't match the title. I'd feel comfortable buying that PC. My preference might be to get a smaller one and fit my own 2TB SSD, but you'll pay almost as much for a 2TB SSD as you will for that PC and I get the feeling that's not what you want to do anyway. :)
 
Hi UnderOpenSky

Something that does confuse me is in the details on that ad it includes something that says what's in the box and there it says this:

  • Inside the box: Dell Latitude 7410 + 65W Original Dell USB-C Charger
So it is saying a Dell something but the computer is an HP. Everything else seems to make sense.
 
weltweit said:
Hi UnderOpenSky

Something that does confuse me is in the details on that ad it includes something that says what's in the box and there it says this:

  • Inside the box: Dell Latitude 7410 + 65W Original Dell USB-C Charger
So it is saying a Dell something but the computer is an HP. Everything else seems to make sense.
Click to expand...

Yes, spotted that. I suspect they list so much and have taken another listing, changed it and missed a bit, but mail them if concerned, their reply might be reassuring,

Stuff I'd be more worried about would be listing an 8th Gen i5 and then in the description it says it's a 4th Gen.
 
The ad is saying that they sold 13 of them and had seven left. If that is true surely the 13 customers must have found the description accurate.
 
weltweit I don't know if or how much you use Photoshop, Lightroom or similar (including GIMP) to edit your photos, but having a separate GPU with 4GB of VRAM will make any image processing you do significantly faster. It doesn't need to be the fastest gaming GPU, just something fairly basic with 4GB VRAM will do. NVIDIA GeForce or AMD Radeon are the best options to look at.

GIMP System Requirements: Minimum and Recommended

GIMP, short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a powerful open-source image editing software loved by professionals and hobbyists…
medium.com medium.com
 
Hi RoyReed thanks for that I haven't considered that aspect yet. My existing computer only has three gig RAM so I'm hoping moving to 16 gig will make a big difference.

Is a GPU something I can add later?
 
Got fed up looking, placed my order for the eBay one. That is actually the first thing I have bought from eBay.

Fingers crossed they didn't sell out while I was prevericating. :)

It is supposed to arrive Wednesday so in the meantime I have to buy a keyboard and a mouse.
 
weltweit said:
Hi RoyReed thanks for that I haven't considered that aspect yet. My existing computer only has three gig RAM so I'm hoping moving to 16 gig will make a big difference.

Is a GPU something I can add later?
Click to expand...
16GB of RAM will certainly help, but 4GB of VRAM will help more with image processing.
 
RoyReed said:
16GB of RAM will certainly help, but 4GB of VRAM will help more with image processing.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks will look into it once the PC seems to be working as intended.

Also got to sort out my backup regime because if I can't access my existing hard drive I will lose a year's worth of info.
 
I know you think the screen is fine, but I'd budget £90 for a 24" business class screen. VGA is just dirty at high resolution. Not metaphorically, it's a dirty signal and struggles at Full HD resolution. I've had people in the office think I've got them a new screen when all I did was replace the VGA cable with DVI-D.
 
Chz said:
I know you think the screen is fine, but I'd budget £90 for a 24" business class screen. VGA is just dirty at high resolution. Not metaphorically, it's a dirty signal and struggles at Full HD resolution. I've had people in the office think I've got them a new screen when all I did was replace the VGA cable with DVI-D.
Click to expand...
You make a good point and if PC works out I will have saved quite a lot of money so should have more available for things like a screen and networked backup.

Still not quite believing I can buy a PC with that spec for that price, looking at New ones they were sometimes 10 times the price.
 
weltweit said:
Also got to sort out my backup regime because if I can't access my existing hard drive I will lose a year's worth of info.
Click to expand...

depends what the issue with current kit is.

i turned one old hard drive in to an external hard drive - i can't remember the right technical term, and it may depend what sort of hard drive it is, but basically it's a plastic box you put the hard drive in, plug one end in to the mains, and the other one via USB cable in to another computer.

i can't remember whether i did this as a result of the rest of the computer failing, or whether i just chose to do it as a backup device when the rest of the computer became obsolete or something.

there are computer shops out there who will try and recover data off a damaged hard drive, i don't think i've ever done that.
 
weltweit said:
Hi RoyReed thanks for that I haven't considered that aspect yet. My existing computer only has three gig RAM so I'm hoping moving to 16 gig will make a big difference.

Is a GPU something I can add later?
Click to expand...

Yes, in a limited fashion. The power supply in that PC won't drive a powerful graphics card, but you could certainly find a 4GB card that will work.

However, if you've been editing photos on an ancient machine with 3GB of RAM, you're going to see such an improvement, I doubt you'll worry about getting an additional GPU. I've got a little PC with a cut down version of the same CPU and it's able to take a 4k video stream and transcode it to 1080, which I think is quite impressive. You won't be gaming with it, but the on board graphics is far from bad.
 
Chz said:
I know you think the screen is fine, but I'd budget £90 for a 24" business class screen. VGA is just dirty at high resolution. Not metaphorically, it's a dirty signal and struggles at Full HD resolution. I've had people in the office think I've got them a new screen when all I did was replace the VGA cable with DVI-D.
Click to expand...

Also, that anything that's made when only having a VGA port was a thing is going to be so outclassed by a modern budget display, even before taking into account the old one is likely to have degraded.

Although if you are going that route weltweit I'd try and find a little more to get a 27" QHD screen. Then it really will feel like a massive upgrade and if your doing photo work on it, will be really worth it.
 
Puddy_Tat said:
depends what the issue with current kit is.

i turned one old hard drive in to an external hard drive - i can't remember the right technical term, and it may depend what sort of hard drive it is, but basically it's a plastic box you put the hard drive in, plug one end in to the mains, and the other one via USB cable in to another computer.

i can't remember whether i did this as a result of the rest of the computer failing, or whether i just chose to do it as a backup device when the rest of the computer became obsolete or something.

there are computer shops out there who will try and recover data off a damaged hard drive, i don't think i've ever done that.
Click to expand...

It's a caddy and you can get them for all hard disk types.

If data is important and a disk is corrupted, it's a really bad idea to try and do recovery yourself. However from what's been said, I don't think that's a likely scenario. If it has happened, I wouldn't find a computer shop, but a data recovery specialist, although that's not cheap.
 
weltweit said:
You make a good point and if PC works out I will have saved quite a lot of money so should have more available for things like a screen and networked backup.

Still not quite believing I can buy a PC with that spec for that price, looking at New ones they were sometimes 10 times the price.
Click to expand...

It's because we're in the bonkers situation that CPUs have got so powerful, that for the average user, it doesn't matter if they are a few years old. It's a six year old CPU (that's not saying when this one was made). However, it's the sweet spot, because it contains the special TPM chip that you need for Windows 11.

My partner's PC has a 10 year old CPU in it, but because it's got 16GB RAM and an SSD and is attached to a lovely 28" 4k screen, you really wouldn't know for any of the general purpose tasks that's asked of it.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
My partner's PC has a 10 year old CPU in it, but because it's got 16GB RAM and an SSD and is attached to a lovely 28" 4k screen, you really wouldn't know for any of the general purpose tasks that's asked of it.
Click to expand...
I've just retired a pc with a 3770K processor. It's been running at 4.7 gig for the past 11 years. I was sad to see it go, but the motherboard is apparently worth a small fortune on ebay, so that's a bonus.
 
Saul Goodman said:
I've just retired a pc with a 3770K processor. It's been running at 4.7 gig for the past 11 years. I was sad to see it go, but the motherboard is apparently worth a small fortune on ebay, so that's a bonus.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a 4770 my partner is using. Nothing fancy though, just an old HP we got second hand some years ago. If I wasn't a gamer, I'd never buy new kit. Even then, my 3080 GPU was second hand.
 
Chz said:
I know you think the screen is fine, but I'd budget £90 for a 24" business class screen. VGA is just dirty at high resolution. Not metaphorically, it's a dirty signal and struggles at Full HD resolution. I've had people in the office think I've got them a new screen when all I did was replace the VGA cable with DVI-D.
Click to expand...
How does HDMI compare to VGA?
 
UnderOpenSky said:
Yes, it's a 4770 my partner is using. Nothing fancy though, just an old HP we got second hand some years ago. If I wasn't a gamer, I'd never buy new kit. Even then, my 3080 GPU was second hand.
Click to expand...
The one I'm on now is a recommissioned 4790K machine. I couldn't justify spending a fortune on a new machine, as I haven't done any gaming for a long time, but I had accumulated a few bits over the years, so I treated them to a new case and cooler, and it's eating any task I throw at it.

IMG_20240516_193122.jpg
 
Sasaferrato said:
How does HDMI compare to VGA?
Click to expand...
DVI-D, HDMI, DP, all good. VGA is an analogue signal and prone to a lot of noise at high resolutions. For Full HD, you need at least a pair of those thick iron casings around it just for a 1m long cable to look good.
HDMI is DVI-D with sound and DRM. DP is a bit more upscale and for years has been as good as what's now the best HDMI standard. But it really only matters for driving multiple 4k screens.
 
I bought a keyboard and mouse today they are wireless and have a little dongle that plugs into USB port. Logitech.

I am hoping they don't need a driver from an internet connection because I won't be able to log in to my Wi-Fi without a working keyboard.

I suppose I should unpack them in case they need batteries?
 
weltweit said:
I bought a keyboard and mouse today they are wireless and have a little dongle that plugs into USB port. Logitech.

I am hoping they don't need a driver from an internet connection because I won't be able to log in to my Wi-Fi without a working keyboard.

I suppose I should unpack them in case they need batteries?
Click to expand...
They will require batteries, they will not require internet access.
 
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